Xing Han Can Lan (2022)

Roundabout Love Story and Bland Characters

This is a tale about a girl, Cheng Shao Shang (pet name Niao Niao) who was born to parents who were both generals. She was given to her paternal grandmother and aunt (wife of her uncle) to raise as her parents had to depart immediately for war after her birth (she also had an older twin brother). There was no bed-confinement rest for the mother. Her older brothers were taken elsewhere and raised differently, and for Niao Niao, whose vicious aunt wanted nothing more than to present her as an ill-bred child due to no one's fault but the poor girl's "unruly nature", her life growing up was full of loneliness and pain, save for the company of her servant girl. It didn't help that her own grandmother favoured sons and grandsons over daughters and granddaughters, and the result was a young girl who was largely neglected and ill-treated by her own relatives. When her parents returned to her side at the age of 15, she could not read beyond a few Chinese characters because of the poor education she received in her parents' absence.

All this backstory is to emphasise how pitiful Niao Niao is, and I have no doubt that her situation was not uncommon in old China. It is slightly unusual in the sense that Niao Niao was daughter to two generals with good reputation and standing in their county. Anyway, after following her life episode after episode, my displeasure with the characters around her only grew with time. There's not much to say about her vicious aunt - she was taken care of early in the drama, her punishment was swift and timely. Her grandmother, though, was a terrible woman whose childish antics continued to be so dreadful that I stopped taking her seriously.

Niao Niao had a female cousin who was staying with them, Yang Yang. Yang Yang was daughter to the vicious aunt and her meek husband (the second son in the house, Niao Niao's father's younger brother). Now Yang Yang, unlike Niao Niao, was educated and raised properly by her mother's family. She could read and write with utmost fluency and possessed a kind disposition like her father (thankfully she did not take after her bitchy mom). Comparisons entailed after Niao Niao's general mother, Xiao Yuan Yi, showed up after 15 whole years of absence from her own daughter's life.

I absolutely have no soft spot for Niao Niao's mother after watching 14 episodes of this drama. Niao Niao's mother knew that she lacked proper teaching and education for more than 15 years of her young life. Niao Niao is incomparable to Yang Yang, who was taught the proper etiquettes of a well-behaved young woman and had a proper education. Yet somehow, her mother expected Niao Niao to magically grow up well as a respectable lady and be the perfect daughter of her dreams as soon as she returned home from the war after 15 years. It was as if her mother just wanted to reap the benefits without sowing any hard work or love into her child. If I were a mother, the first thing after reuniting with my child is to shower them with love and try to understand them, not demand them to conform to what I want. Throughout the series (so far), her mother thought that discipline was what her own daughter needed, so she meted out punishments for ill behaviour, the most trivial slip of etiquette, childish schemes and pranks. To add insult to Niao Niao's injury, her mother constantly praised Yang Yang and showered her with affection in front of her own daughter. This kind of hurt is unfathomable. I do hope that they could reconcile, because while Niao Niao could be childish and immature, she was after all still a child who was bullied her whole life. Her perspective of the world was skewed by her own terrible experiences and starvation for love, hence she jumped into the first opportunity to get married even though she wasn't that into the guy (Lou Yao) when they met. Her mother did not recognise this - that her own daughter was yearning for more affection.

As for the romance part of this drama - I'm not feeling it too deeply. I just couldn't feel much chemistry between the main leads. There were funny moments and I did howl at some scenes, but something was still missing and I couldn't quite pin my finger on it. I'm not sure if it's Leo Wu's problem to connect with his female leads (all his other dramas with his female leads also felt somewhat flat to me) or if it's because of the way the romance was written in this story. He's only 22 and still growing as an actor, so I really don't have much to complain about him, as he can act pretty okay.

In the drama, he is Ling Bu Yi (courtesy name Zi Sheng). Niao Niao left a deep impression on Zi Sheng the first time they met after she sold out her own grand-uncle (her grandmother's younger brother) for committing a crime. Their subsequent meetings and interactions just weren't real enough or convincing for me, at least. He was also betrothed to Imperial Princess Yu Cheng, but he refused to acquiesce to the betrothal because, in his own words, he didn't want an arranged marriage. He wanted to find someone he really loved, and he wanted someone whom he knew would be the one - at first sight. I'm sorry but it's just so .... childish? There's also flaw in his thinking. He said, "I want the kind of love the moment I see it," but what about the princess? She could very well have thought he too, was the love she wanted the moment she saw him. But love itself is never that simple. It is about mutual acceptance, responsibility and the willingness to commit. I say that, but actually, I don't feel for the princess, she's a spoiled broad. Zi Sheng himself can be hypocritical in his world views, he talked big but he didn't know crap about love. All of Niao Niao's suitors annoy me. The bewildering thing about this story is, all the guys fell too hard and too fast (three of them) for the heroine and Zi Sheng is no exception.

Zi Sheng himself came from a complicated household. His mother lost her mind over an incident, and his biological father seemed like a villain. The emperor adopted Zi Sheng as his own son, was lenient to him and to most of his subjects, even criminals. The writer depicted the emperor as a soft-hearted man, whose actions reflect himself more as a modern family man than a mighty emperor. Zi Sheng could speak without restraint in the emperor's presence, he didn't have to do the things he didn't like to do, and the emperor seemed to care more about Zi Sheng's love life than his career as the general of a dynasty. This was weird, but nevertheless heartwarming, and I would have been more accepting of his portrayal had it not been for the glaring contrast of Niao Niao's strict, severe and unyielding mother. So while all the convoluted plots of stealing armaments from the imperial troops and acts of rebellions were going on in the background, with the main guy Zi Sheng having his hands full trying to close the case (I don't understand why he is also part of the investigation team, wasn't he a general? Why was he also the police?), the main girl was in a hurry to get married so she could finally "be free" from her toxic, unloving family. I just feel it's too much of a roundabout way to tell a love story. I have no interest in the first fiance, Lou Yao or his equally toxic family. I honestly don't understand why would Niao Niao, being as intelligent as she was, wanted to jump from one abusive family to the next. It just doesn't make sense. She wanted freedom, but marrying into Lou Yao's family is anything but obtaining freedom.

Around Episode 20, when Niao Niao was forced to break off her engagement with Lou Yao, she wailed and cried about her "unlucky" fate in the carriage with Zi Sheng. I understand that she simply wanted something that would go her way for once, and that she had never had anyone who showed their love for her like Lou Yao did. She was raised like a frog under a well, so I completely understand her ignorance in the first half of the series. I was eager to see how she would grow. Yet after the arc where she went through a harrowing ordeal chased by a band of deserting soldiers who turned bandits, where she had witnessed so many tragedies and deaths, the thing she said was, "Why am I always the unlucky one?" Like, girl, out of so many things you could have said, you chose the worst thing to say.

The bandit arc in Part 1 was supposed to show how Niao Niao grew as a person after observing how life outside her family home was much complicated and tragic than she assumed her life was in comparison. That was what I thought. But because of what Niao Niao said after all that, I realised I was wrong. That whole arc is nothing but to show us how Niao Niao is really already such a great and wonderful girl, and she doesn't need to change. That her actions in this arc were what made Zi Sheng fall more in love with her, that's it. He saw her being smart, being kind, he saw and heard her play the flute, and his heart ached with deep longing - what with the sombre background music and all - that he couldn't have her because she was engaged. It was a sympathy arc for Zi Sheng.

Personally, I still don't think it's a bad story altogether. I'm still entertained somewhat. But the plot surrounding the royal family and the investigation concerning the stolen troop armaments could have been written better. The romance could have been written better. The main characters annoy me every now and then and there were too many characters who don't really serve much purpose other than being distractions and obstacles between the main two leads. I just don't really like that kind of thing. I want a simple, straightforward story, and if you're also like me in this aspect - you won't find that here. Be prepared to get dragged around watching characters you don't care for, scenes you don't care for, and very few scenes between the two leads. But this is just Part 1, and I'm only finishing it. Honestly, I don't have much hopes for Part 2. But I'll finish that as well.

Lees verder